This is an absolutely amazing book! The story is from the main character Bobby’s point of view and it follows his group of four friends as they take on student council elections in seventh grade.
Each of these characters seems to represent someone you can easily connect with as the reader. Bobby is an overweight boy who lost his mother at a young age to cancer. Addie is “too tall for a girl” and extremely opinionated (which from my personal experience is often looked down on!). Skeezie is a trouble maker who has difficulty making friends, and struggles with personal hygiene making the problem worse. And Joe (my favourite character) is gay and struggles with his identity a bit.
James Howe has a way of making you fall for each and every one of his characters, even those secondary ones that come and go! He gives just enough information to keep you connected without overburdening you, and it works incredibly well!
This book does touch on topics to do with LGBTQ, but in a refreshing way (not simply focused on the overused plot line of simply “coming out” and then nothing after! We see Joe begin a healthy relationship!!)
Overall this book gets 5/5 from me and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series, which seems to focus on each of the gang of five.